Turnplay: The #1 vinyl record player for iPad

I know we're only talking about $0.99 (introductory special, price goes to $1.99 tomorrow), but there's something about this that just seems...all wrong. I certainly enjoys my vinyl but that enjoyment is wrapped up in the physicality of the entire experience from shopping for records in a real record shop (usually with friends), to carrying my new finds home, to placing one on the platter, queuing it up, sitting down with the album cover in hand and listening. I also enjoy flipping through my virtual music library on my iPad and the growing number of HD and DSD downloads makes shopping online that much better. But these experiences are, happily for me, separate and distinct. Why muddy the waters?

But maybe I'm just being grumpy. What are your thoughts about Turnplay's virtual record player for iPad app?

For the record (heh) I love the way my records sound but am not a fan of futzing with them. The cleaning, the pops, the relative fragility of my turntable, with kids in the house it is not as great as my squeezebox touch. So I rip my records at 24/96 to my computer!

I really like our iPad but its no turntable, sorry. It's not that the latter is all bliss, but in more than 3 (OK, 4) decades of spinning records I've never felt it wasn't manageable. Or reasonable.

I don't particularly "like" cleaning regimens, alignment, wear and the rest, but fer chrissakes, it's not a huge deal. I have to do all of that to my cars, for exampl, and all they do is depreciate and remind me of how old they are. Nevermind.

I place blame in all physical things that slowly removed their physicality. Yes, rotary dials were basically annoying. Push buttons, better. But wait, push buttons that barely pushed in --- no.

Similarly, solonoid control buttons on tape decks that definitively clicked = good. Ever use a Teac open reel from the '70s, or similar? Later models' controls, cassettes, that barely budged = no. And that describes most all CD players. Today's touch controls are interesting but now all the tactile feel, the physicality, is gone. And something's been lost.

Maybe someone will introduce a USB peripheral for Play, Stop, << and >> for us with honest push buttons that act like an IBM Model F or M keyboard with the buckling spring.

Just enjoying this app, I can even record remixes combined with the scratching of this, it is like and actual turn table that several features you can choose from. Perfect for musician like me... Really love it.